


More Sleep, Less Coffee

by Kallonimo



Series: Shakarian Quarantine Project [49]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Post-War, no beta we die like jenkins, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:28:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25109230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kallonimo/pseuds/Kallonimo
Summary: Don't get a caffeine addiction, kids
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Series: Shakarian Quarantine Project [49]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1751218
Comments: 6
Kudos: 42





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt Category: Random  
> Prompt: I’d kill for a coffee...literally

“Get them to evacuate, single file to the shuttle and then uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah”

Vega looks at her absolutely bewildered and Shepard stops speaking herself, blinking slightly bewildered by the sound that just came out of her. 

“Did you just...did you just yawn?”

“Yeah, I think I did”, Shepard scrunches up her face “I am not getting a lot of sleep these days. And it’s not...not what you think. I’m just stressed.”

“Poor Garrus”, James laughs.

“Poor ME! Once we are done shooting these Cerberus bastards and the civilians are out of here I need a fucking coffee. But seriously James, I’m good. It’s just a yawn.”

They continue the evacuation, but Shepard can start to feel the effect of her tiredness more and more every second. She has been keeping herself awake with a lot of coffee these days, but she didn’t get one this morning leaving her tired and on some serious caffeine withdrawal. She keeps yawning, her hands are shaking and her vision is blurring. The civilians don’t seem to notice but James shoots her worried looks every now and then. 

Once they are finally on their own shuttle she practically collapses in the corner. Cortez asks her if she’s injured but she shakes her head. “Just tired”

James walks in, gives her a look and starts punching something into his omnitool.

“What are you doing?”, Shepard asks

“Calling your boyfriend”, the omnitool chimes and Garrus voice starts sounding out of it. 

“Vega? Why are you calling me? Is Shepard injured?”

Shepard grins and James rolls his eyes “No she’s good. Except for the part where she looks like she is about to fall asleep. In your assessment, how healthy is her lifestyle?”

Garrus seems to hesitate “Can she hear me right now?”

“Yes she can”, Shepard answers herself “And I will have both of you know that I am still your commanding officer.”

“Oh I am aware”, Garrus replies “Also, you are living life on the edge and I am this close to dragging you into the medbay myself.”

“Thanks Scars.”, Vega disconnects then turns to look at her. “Not just a yawn, but a pattern of unhealthy behaviour apparently.”

Shepard sighs and throws her arms in the air. “What do you want me to say, James? I am trying to win a war here. Yes, I am not living a perfectly healthy lifestyle. None of us are.”

“Yeah, but you need to make some changes before it gets to a point where it impacts your abilities. Just like…”, he gesticulates “Next time you’re on the Citadel, do something nice. Go on a date with Scars or something and then fix your sleep schedule.”  
She raises an eyebrow. “You make it sound so easy”

James shrugs. 

-

Shepard is pretty sure the whole crew is conspiring against her. Not only Garrus and James, but also Liara and Tali keep telling her to sleep more. One morning Kaidan is standing by the coffee machine and when he sees the amount of Espresso shots she’s adding to her drink he biotically lifts the cup out of her hand and gives her a lecture on the health risks of caffeine consumption. Unprompted E-Mails from Doctor Chakwas about how adjust her sleep schedule and diet keep showing up in her inbox. EDI is in on it too. She stops waking Shepard up, instead delegating tasks to Garrus or Liara and only telling Shepard when she wakes up by herself. 

“I tried to wake you but you were fast asleep.”

Shepard lifts an eyebrow. “Do you have a lying filter I can turn on or off?”

“If I had one I would be able to lie about it.”

“Okay, you are all clearly conspiring against me.”

“Lack of sleep seems to be making you paranoid. Might I suggest adapting your schedule.”

-

It works, eventually. Shepard sleeps more and drinks less coffee. Even as the war becomes worse and worse she learns to rely more on her friends instead. Garrus notices, of course.

“You’re getting better.”

“Yeah, I guess”, she smiles “All of you slowly manipulated me into a healthier lifestyle.”

He softly kisses the top of her head. “That’s what were here for. Helping you.”

Shepard smiles up at him and not for the first and certainly not for the last time wonders what she did to deserve all of them.


	2. Good Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt Category: Kisses  
> Prompt: Lazy morning kisses before they’ve even opened their eyes, still mumbling, half incoherrently, not wanting to wake up

“Wake up”

“Gnoooooooo”, Shepard blindly swats in the direction of Garrus’ voice. Her fingers graze something that feels like his chest plates and she rolls onto her belly burying her face in her pillow.

She has takes to sleeping a lot since the war is over, finally getting into a healthier rhythm. She has also pretty much sworn off coffee. The only problem is that now, she really likes sleep and pretty much refuses to wake up when she needs to. 

Garrus, very used to her morning protests at this point, chuckles and grabs her shoulders, turning her onto her back. Shepard protests with another long “Gnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”. He kisses her and she doesn’t move, still too tired to respond. She lets out a sound somewhere between a hum and a yawn instead.

“My translator didn’t….ok that definitely wasn’t a word.”

“juslemmesleepalittlelongergarrusplease”

“Sorry what?”

“Sleep”

He laughs and kisses her again. “How about I make breakfast and give you all the time you want to very slowly roll out of bed?”

“Yes good.”

Shepard hears him leave and flops onto her side. Her eyes open and the bedroom slowly swims into view. She loves this house, the little home they bought on the shore. It’s the first time a place she’s lived is really truly hers. 

She becomes more aware of everything as she wakes up. The world becomes less blurry and she can hear Garrus in the kitchen working on breakfast. Shepard still isn’t sure she deserves this, even though her friends and Garrus keep telling her so, but it’s what she has now and she sure wont give it up.

It takes her a few more minutes to roll out of bed and make her way over to the kitchen. She smiles at Garrus. “Good morning”

He looks at her and smiles in return. “Good Morning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading <3


End file.
